The Price is Right ...

So for the past few weeks I had been been shopping (more like online browsing!) for a bike to replace my old one. Nothing, however, would suit the budget I was going after (my friend Jeff had something to say about making a long term investment...).

Finally after been driven to two different locations of Canadian Tires, some visits to other stores and to Costco (yes, not a bike store, but they're known for their good prices!), I ended up at Cyclepath after some urging from my friend that it IS the place to get a bike if you're serious about biking. Which I am. Honest :)

The personel at Cyclepath were very helpful, they helped me out in picking the right frame, offered several alternatives to fit my budget... well, an attempt was made :) Most of the bikes there were over my budget to start, but they made up in quality (much lighter frames!). I ended up picking a Trek 7000 series -- very pretty :) Pricy, but pretty.

After making the bike purchase, both Jeff and I were pretty tired and hungry (and we hadn't even started biking yet!) so we headed off to Pho House (formally known as Pho 88), a Vietnamese restaurant on Broadview. Best way to power up! :P

We decided after eating, that we would wait until early evening when it wasn't so hot (and until I installed a bell on my bike), so I got dropped off at home. You would think I did something constructive during the time, but I ended up taking a nap. It wasn't until perhaps 10 minutes before I had to meet with Jeff I hooked up my bell, filled up my water bottle and jetted out of the house.

We met on Coxwell and Queen, and headed on the bike path and we made our way to this oversized parking lot. I practiced a lot of my turning and testing of the gears here (Jeff's biking bootcamp ;)) and once I got my groove with my new bike, we did a few runs (well, 2 really) of the actual path. Still, all in all, quite productive! I loved the feel of the new bike, the ease in changing gears, awesome brakes (that work!). The price for bike was high, but it feels ... right :)

Aside from getting a new bike, I had been doing a lot of hiking/walking long distances - mostly 6km - 7km. Nothing too streneous, but still keeping the training up for the long hike. Tomorrow, however, will be picking up the pace and doing a easy 6km run.

Lastly, but certainly not least, I want to thank my current sponsors to my event: Hoanh T. Ngo, Jeffrey Lam, Joyce Quan, Kai Liang, Lynette, Manh Nguyen, Phuc Nghiem Phu, Phung Nguyen, Vinh-The Lam, and Richard. Thank you so much for your support! :)

Dusk to Darkness

Saturday our team the Fantastic Four (minus one, because the lucky girl is in Japan!), did our first hike together - up at Horseshoe Valley in Barrie. The hike was organized by Oxfam as part of a familiarization of 100km trail, in this case, a 6% taste of what's to come in the last weekend of July.

Gearless as I was (notice the past tense reference :P), the three of us dropped in on Vaughn Mills Mall on the way up to the meeting spot. For those who have not been there, the mall's interior resembles a figure 8.. or an infinity sign :) You can wander in there forever!

Our first stop in the Mall was to hit the Bass Pro shop. The multitudes of things you can buy in there when you're planning an outdoor activity! Hydration packs, hats, flashlights, first aid kits, iodine, ponchos, sleeping bags, boots, shoes, tents, ... so many options.

First stop though was to get headlights. The title of the posting was selected purposely (and also named activity by Oxfam). I got myself a Petzl® Tikka2 LED Headlamp, followed by an sleeping bag (Can't even find a picture of it, but it resembles much like a emergency blanket), a 5-in-1 survival aid kit (liquid filled compass with a luminous dial, a waterproof match box, a whistle, a fire starting flint, and a nylon lanyard). My teammates got themselves a hydration pack (I was fortunate enough to have gotten one as a gift :P Now I get to put it to use!), headlamps and flashlights.

We grabbed a quick bite and headed off to our destination, excited with our purchases. Sadly to note, at this point, I have not bought my hiking boots -- I was going to make do with my old runners. May as well make use of them before they are officially retired.

We arrived at Carriage Ridge Resort (a place we booked for overnight stay) a bit earlier, and had time to unpack our stuff, and gear up for the night hike. Before we left, we took a quick team picture (see first pic), and drove to the meeting spot to sign in.

There was, as it was, a big turnout for the hike, approx 94 people. A school bus full of hikers. They drove us to the start point of the event, and we started the hike approx. 8:19pm.

I was eager to try out the headlights -- it said it could give visibility up to 29m! It didn't get dark until 9pm, (between all that time, cracks of daylight could be seen through the tall trees, lighting the trail for us), but it was hard not to want to turn it on earlier - :) I do love to try out new gadgets!

When darkness did finally fall, turned out my headlamp was as awesome as I had imagined it to be. On its own, it could light up the trail enough for all three of us AND the people ahead of us. Sweet. Got my money's worth! *grin*

The hike continued with light chatter, some talk about "what kind of bird would I be?" We have the answers: Goose, Phoenix, Penguin. Lol, Guess which one I am? ;)

A few times during the hike, I tried to convince my friends (inspired by the headlamp) that we should go Spelunking again. They.. have yet to be persuaded. I have learned, thought, that no doesn't always mean no...

We finished the hike in a little over an hour, signed out, and drove back to our resort. Having settled in and microwaved up some Uncle Ben's rice (surprisingly good after a hike), and indulging on some munchies, we settled down on the couch and watched the ending of "Goonies" (ah, such a classic!) on the tele. Following up with it, we all somehow (ok, it may have just been me :P) hooked on watching "Holes". We slept away at around 1am, and checked out promptly around 11 in the morning... and headed to the Cookstown outlet mall.

Originally, we had had planned to put in another hike in the morning, but it had rained during the night, making the ground exceptionally muddy, so as an alternative, we opted to use the time to get some uniforms for our team and any remaining necessities for the hike.

In Cookstown we found ourselves with some good bargain deals on a dryfit shirt for our team, but nothing else jumped out for us, so we headed back down to Vaughnmills Mall to check out other options. This time around, we found our team hat, another set of team tshirts, and most importantly, hiking shoes. I also found myself a pair of new runners that matched the current series I had been wearing. Made my selection much easier! One of my teammates also bought a pair of hikers.

Noted, all these purchases took us nearly 5 hours. And we had only ventured into the stores that were relevant to our "mission". Compared to the hike itself, I was more tired after shopping :P We ended the day at the mall with a Gelato icecream/milkshake. *grin* I can't complain, my weekend was well spent! :)

After a long winter of hibernation - that is what tends to happen when it gets cold outside :) - I have finally returned to running outdoors. Although my knee is not as tenuous as last year, I am still very careful with it - one has to be if you expect it to last!

My first run of the spring season was in fact on the Easter long weekend. Having been under the weather for a while, the idea of feeling well enough to do a short sprint on the boardwalk sounded like an excellent idea. The start of the run was amazing as always, feeling the cool breeze hit my face, the sun warming my body, and the thought of having an ice cream afterwards... :)

My speed wasn't as fast, but the good thing that came about was that I was running with out the knee support. AND that it felt normal! Can't imagine the victorious smile on my face afterwards.

Next few days, however, my left foot was feeling rather painful. It was only then I realized that I should have retired the pair of runners (yes, the same pair I used to run my marathon in addition to the training that led up to it. So give or take its been used for over 363 km). I am pretty sure the cushion... er, wait, there isn't any! has been worn to nothing but a thin pad.

So. Task at hand: Get new pair of runners before engaging in any new running activities. The next few weeks I did stretching exercises and random Yoga classes thrown into the mix.

Just the past week, since I have yet to get my new runners, I participated in a few spin classes at my local gym. If you recall in all my previous bloggings, I hate hills of any sort with a passion (My friends who have hiked with me in Greece know that by personal experience). So there is some irony that the spin classes that I joined in on were all- terrain ones. What better way to conquer your fears? Or in this case, fears and arch nemesis :)

Turned out Spin Classes are quite fun. My enjoyment was surprising and it worked well in my goal of training for my Triathlon (coming up in 2012 hopefully! Provided the Mayans were incorrect on their predictions ;)) and for helping me strengthen the calve and quad muscles; should help me in preparing for my long hike event.

Good news my avid readers! I completed the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Full Marathon (42.2km)! Yipeeee!

My legs right now, though, feels like rubber! I had thought my long runs on all those Saturday training sessions were exhausting on my muscles, but boy, this is a whole new feeling. Despite the soreness, I have to say, I am very proud and happy to have made it through my first marathon! I'm now in the 1% of the world who can complete a marathon. A proud achievement for me :-)

Details on pre-run date: On Saturday I checked into my room at the Hilton Hotel, met up with my two room mates, had a pre-race jitter talk with them, had a most delicious pasta dinner with all my team mates, listened to 3 speeches that teared me up, and proceeded to sleep at 11pm in night ... only to have to wake up at 4:45am the next morning.

Had breakfast at 5:50am (Had to run around downtown toronto to look for the 24 hour Tim Hortons); successful, but I didn't end up getting the hashbrowns that I wanted :-( They were not serving it yet until 9am. Had a butter croissant and small double double. Tastey.

My two roomates and I rushed back to our hotel, to our rooms, got our water belts, jackets, (and luggage for me -- planned to use the baggage check-in at city hall), and proceeded downstairs to the lobby to meet the rest of the TNT group.

It was still dark when we began heading over to Nathan Phillips Square to our tent. The race did not start until 7:30am, so there was still lots time to be nervous, worried and having thoughts of of a number of possible, but rather unlikely events that could happen before and during the race. 42 km was a pretty long way. Stepping on a pothole, my knee injury coming back, headache, cramps, hip pain, rain, too much sun, wind... all of it was an unknown. Rain was probably the worse thought on my mind. A member of my team said that it was suppose to shower a little bit; and there was chance of a little sun between 8-9am. How comforting.

It was about 7:10am when we began to move towards our corals (our starting area). While we waited until the race started, I took the time to take in the excitement, the energy around me. I could hear the sound of music, laughter, friends and family cheering.. it was amazing.

The national anthem then started and we were all silent as we listened to it.

The gunshot sounded; the race was on!

To make it easiest to describe the run, I will list the few pivotal moments:

15km -- Felt so happy that it was not raining nor was it too sunny.
21km -- I felt this rush of pride, I passed the 21km mark @ 2:32 hours
27km -- I hit my mental wall, anxiety on not having enough time to finish hit me (my coach was thank god there, and talked me out of my fear - I had about 3 hours still and I was more than half way)
30km -- My right quad cramped up on me, and I devoured all the peanuts I had in my pouch (Thank you Lise for the idea and Lynette for the trail mix!)
33km -- My left and right quads cramped on me, coach offered me a salt tablet
34km -- Started to dislike drinking Gatorade and those little cubes meant to help me restore the balance of my electrolytes. There is only so much love for those supplements ...
36km -- The top of my left knee began to spasm on me, forced me to slow down a lot
40km -- My IT band began to hurt a little bit
41km -- Used an unknown stored energy to sprint to that finish line.
41.5km -- I thought about the cause I was running for and wished for the good health of my family, my relatives, my uncle, my friends, my supporters.
42.2 km -- A victorious feeling :-)

As I crossed the finish line, it felt amazing. First - I finished a marathon! I had run 26 miles! Second - Yes, I could now sit and eat. I was famished.

I hugged my parents and brother who were there to support me, and my three wonderful cousins who trekked all the way downtown to see me, from morning until I finished my race! My two friends Kai and Jeffrey who special delivered me food that I requested :-) (namely chinese buns and gatorade).

After having a brief lunch with my two friends, I headed home. At this point, my legs were tired, it was not until I got home and sat on the sofa, when I felt the soreness creep in. By the time my friend Madeline dropped by to congratulate me on my run, I could feel the stiffness in my legs. I was walking very oddly. lol. I definitely needed to do some light stretching.

This morning, when I woke up, my poor legs only got more sore. lol. Will be booking with a massage therapist this week! :-)

Well, so this ends my marathon journey for this year :-) Thank you all for following me and supporting me on my training for the marathon.

Next weekend I will be doing a short run/walk (let's see how my legs feel hehe), for the CIBC run for the cure - Breast Cancer. Wish me luck!

P.S. Thanks M for the kind donation!

First thing I have to say is, YAY! Thank you thank you wonderful supporters! Without you guys, I wouldn't have been able to reach my fundraising goal! =) You guys are the best!

Special thanks to my new sponsors: Bill Petruck, Marty Kobayashi, Lise Hansen, Richard Tanha, Diana Trac, and the anonymous people who kindly contributed to my little tincan :-)

Now to the running bit:
This weekend, :-( bad news came about with my knee again. Tricky little fella I have to say. It had not complained for the last two weeks of the long run training - 23km and 32km respectively, but on Saturday, having just run just a little past 10km, it faltered on me again. I was fortunate to be close to home (ironic since our new route passes my house), so I was able to head home straight away to to ice the knee. No sense in injuring it further since race day is literally at this point 14 days away.

The knee, as I iced it, was all red and inflammed. I applied some a535, did some stretching afterwards and it was not after I took a long nap that afternoon did it start feeling better. I was able to walk around and not exactly run, but trot about without any pain. This was a huge relief. Previously when I first had this happen to me, walking even hurt me. I took this as a good sign. This morning, did more stretching, and my knee feels good again - which means good news I can resume my training again! I am going to taper down with lower milages than the training schedule. My knee will be more happier, I'm sure. And a friendly visit to my doctor again for an assessment (just in case) of my knee too :-)

Tomorrow, I will do yoga ... 14 days ... in counting!

Today's theme: Peaches. That's what the food show Ricardo told me. And boy did I feel for peaches afterwards! I learned how to make peach soup, BBQ'd peach, peach drink, and of course, we can't forget peach crumble! And all this was while in front of a treadmill. Kinda liking this dual tasking *grin* =)

Honestly, my 10km never zoomed by so fast. I actually skipped my usual 10 and 1's. Went straight through my run. I think I should try to get to the gym around this same time, lol, got to watch two of my favourite cooking shows.

Mind you, lol, I like learning to cook, but I have yet to put those skills to practical use. That may change soon enough! A friend (thanks Laura!) suggested a new fundraising idea that I might just take up on...

Also, I have many special thanks to my most recent sponsors: Kimberley Bailey, Gina Cramarossa, Cindy Poon, Kim Nguyen, Ping Young, Rafeeza Khan, Patricia Denessidis, Ryan MacLachlan, and Jason Cheng! You guys are great!! Thanks so much for supporting my cause! Getting much much closer!

The Saturday that just passed, I did my longest run to date: 32km! Dear God, I really did not know if I could do it. Took me about 5 hours 25 min ... I will definitely need to pick up the pace just a tad ... though I do blame them hills for holding me back ;) The scotia run is relatively flat, so that will be something going towards my favour. Now if it were only all down hill ... ah such wishful thinking :-)

I woke up at 4am, ate 2 pieces of toast and 2 eggs (mmmm soo goooood), drank some leftover gatorade, 2 1/2 glasses of water (still shakened by the dyhdration scare from the previous week).

Speaking of hydration, I decided to try out gatorade instead of the regular elode discs to replenish lost electrolytes while running. Turns out, it was a good decision. I noticed I was able to keep a more consistant pace and was not as thirsty so often. Best of all, no adverse stomach cramps or nausea afterwards. I have heard that some people do not take in gatorade too well. Next week, I will be filling all my water bottles with gatorade. Let us see what 100% gatorade does... :) It will be my last week when I can truly experiment with the different sports drinks.


During my run, as I mentioned before, it was a 5 1/2 hour run, I did eventually run out of water/gatorade. There was a point where I had to refill with tap water from a sink. Not a big deal in many respects, but for those who know me well ... lol, kinda biggie for me =) But when it comes right down to it, if you need water, you need water.


On the first half of the five and a half hours, I chatted with fellow runners. Eventually, we all drifted apart, running our own pace. As I'm running along the beltline to finish my last 11km, I hummed a few tunes, I problem solved work stuff, thought about vacation and travel, poetry, books to read, mountains to climb ... and then I cross path with a rat.

Such a random event. I never knew there were rats in the woody forest. But then again, there were some residential areas... perhaps, I imagined then at the time, some kind hearted old lady saved the rat by releasing him into the wild instead of panning him down. No, I was not delarious ;-) just humble musings ... while some have the good fortune of having beautiful hymns come to them (Sid), I occassionally come up with backstories of things that I come across during my run.

Oh, good thing: I did not hit "the wall" during the run [for those curious for the detailed definition of what I mean by that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon]. Yay!

Next week, 23km. We're starting to taper down our long runs. Phew. lol.

-edit-

I had some really delicious vietnamese food after the run as a reward for my hardwork :P

P.S. Thank you Joyce Q. For the kind sponsorship! Getting closer!